Flitting Curiosity
by elizabethswannrox
Summary: A 13 year old Elizabeth over hears her Father planning to go and investigate a Pirate ship captured off of Port Royal, but is denied permission to come along. But she isn't about to miss the opportunity. She has other plans. Plans involving a certain Blacksmith's apprentice and a stowaway carriage ride for a taste of adventure.


There are some people in this world who are born with a natural curiosity, and who will not let it go until they can satisfyingly know the object of their wonder.

Elizabeth Swann was one of those people.

For the past few days, each and every officer who came waltzing into her home had only one thing to discuss with her father, and that was the recent procurement of a pirate ship, tacking just a few miles from Port Royal and now condemnably resting in its docks. It was a dangerous playground of miscreants and smelled of rough men and their putrid past times. It was a disgraceful use of a vessel. It was something Elizabeth needed to see.

She had heard that her Father would be taking a trip to examine the ship and its holding that coming Thursday and, though she was sure he would not find it an agreeable excursion for a young lady of 13, she had to try and sway him as much as humanly possible. Much to her dismay, it had only taken all of a few moments for the Governor to decline her, and refuse to let her twist her way around it as she usually had a knack for doing. He claimed he would have no time to keep an eye on her, and that it would be a terrible place for her to wander off alone, as there could still be pirates lurking about, hidden in the hull. _If he is trying to frighten me, he's not doing a terribly good job,_ she thought to herself, unfazed and determined. However, knowing she was past the point of things going her way, she nodded in complacency and shuffled away. Just because he had denied her, though, did anything but stray the idea of joining him on this excursion out of his mind.

_He is right… I shouldn't go. If I am alone… _Her eyes lit up as her fiery ideas sparked a match behind them.

"Come on, Will, trust me. They won't be here for another fifteen minutes at least. That gives us plenty of time to climb in the back and make ourselves comfortable."

Will lagged behind her hesitantly, though he knew there was no turning back now. This wouldn't be the first time a certain Ms. Swann had managed to tear him from his former obligations to do something he never would have dared even think to do himself. It was pointless, though, there was no denying her, especially when she begged with those eyes that had so quickly captured his heart.

As Elizabeth approached the carriage which was to take them on their secret stowaway journey to the forbidden pirate ship, she shot her seemingly frozen friend a reassuring smile, trying to calm his nerves. She loved being able to broaden his horizons, and though she sometimes wished he wouldn't be so polite and worried about being caught, she also knew he only cared so much because he would hate to see anything happen to her. He had told her so himself, and she found it perfectly adorable and wonderfully comforting. It was her time to comfort him now, as she tried to coax him closer to the carriage.

She swung open the carriage door and climbed in and, after waiting for half a minute and not sensing his footsteps advancing forward, she stuck her head out and looked straight at him. She raised an eyebrow and smirked reassuringly as she stuck her hand out for him.

He shook off his fear, knowing that he couldn't disappoint her after making it this far, and began striding ahead. He denied her help getting in, being the gentleman that he was, but thanked her anyway. He looked at her excitable brown orbs and bouncing curls with complete admiration as she noted that they were one step closer to the piratical vessel she wanted so badly to see.

"Thank you for agreeing to join me, Will. I couldn't think of better company for this or any other adventure," she quickly remarked as she turned to climb behind the carriages back seats, were they could hitch a ride and no one would so much as suspect it.

"You're welcome," he tried to reply, though he couldn't see her any more. Then, realizing where she was, he climbed towards the back.

Lifting himself up over the seats, he swung his legs over and then, carefully, lowered himself down into the little space they would be stowed. As he brought himself cautiously in, he looked below him to see a rather wide-eyed face merely inches away from his. They both froze and turned a shade of red that reflected off of each other in that time-stilled second. Her nervous smile was tiny and expectant of the unexpected as she tried to breath, and he gulped as she looked up at him. Clearing his throat and adjusting himself quickly after the elongated little time lapse, he embarrassedly moved to sit down. He looked across to her and her eyelashes fluttered as she looked down with a satisfied smirk she tried very hard not to out to him. Once, they had adjusted themselves in a way that they could both fit, facing each other with their knees pulled to their chests and the hands they used to hold their legs centimeters from the other's, Elizabeth looked up at her companion and grinned.

"This is rather exciting. That we're finally going to get to see a real ship, I mean," she clarified, protecting herself from any further embarrassment or possibly betraying rose colored tint to her face. "I mean, of course there have been Navy ships here, but once you've seen one of those they all look the same with their clean white sails. This one will be just like the ones in our games only huge and, well, real."

He nodded, her enthusiasm sparking up some of his own. This was exactly how it always seemed to work with her, he realized. He would question whether or not her seemingly ridiculous ideas were really the best option, somehow be dragged into it, end up being so effected by her own emotion that he ended up sharing them and having the most marvelous time, and be left with calmed nerves and a notably increased heart rate. However, this was the only thing he could ever really be consistently sure of with her, as everything else about her character was entirely unpredictable. Being with her was like playing a game of chance, yet he was always left feeling as though he had won no matter what he had bet his pieces on. She made sure he never felt anything less than highly appreciated, and it was nice for someone of such low stature in society to feel at all elevated by anyone, though the fact that it was her of all people that held him in such high esteem made him feel furtively high above all others.

Elizabeth cocked her head, looking curiously at the wandering eyes across from her. He always seemed to have so many thoughts surrounding him, engulfing him at all times. Noticing the assessment he was getting, Will shook out his wonderings, or rather put them away somewhere safe, where he knew too well he would be emotionally obligated to find and pull them out again quite soon.

"It's probably going to be a bumpy ride, then, isn't it?" he asked of Elizabeth, who knew far more of the carriage riding experience than himself. It was a luxury she often was subjected to, while he was left traveling everywhere by the ever so wonderful privilege of using his own god-given mode. Of course their current ride was not so much in the lap of luxury, but rather in its very cramped stomach.

"Oh, I don't know. I'm usually distracted anyhow, looking out the window. Normally its much more interesting than what's in here." _Normally..._

"It's alright," Elizabeth leaned towards Will, whispering, "So long as we are very quite, we won't get caught. Plus, once we start riding, he may not be able to hear us anyhow if we keep our voices low. Riding over the streets here is a rather noisy affair and between the cobblestones and horses we'll be safe and sound."

She was obviously quite pleased with her self. Will took her words into account and allowed himself to relax just slightly. However, just slightly was just enough in this very cramped back compartment for his hand to accidentaly brush the leg of the young lady across from him.

Elizabeth giggled slightly, then quickly covered her mouth, and, moreover, her cheeks, scrambling as far back as space would allow. It allowed very little. A smile played at her alongside a gleam of worry. She hoped he wouldn't realize the meaning of his discovery as it would be very inconveniant in this particular time and place.

"Elizabeth?" Will grinned at her. He obviously hadn't spurned her by the accidental touch and so wondered of her speedy escape attempt. Then it dawned on him.

"Oh," he whispered with feigned innocence "You're ticklish."

Her eyes grew wide.

"Aren't you?"

_Drat! _

"No!" She mouthed at him, far to quickly and assuredly for it to be true. "No..." She whispered, looking away somewhere, anywhere but at him, knowing full well that if their eyes met the truth would betray her and reveal itself in hers.

Will looked across at her, smirking, shaking his head, an eyebrow raised at this most interesting discovery. He couldn't just leave such a thing at rest. Something must obviously be done. With decisive boldness, almost as if he were entirely unaware of his actions in their little hideaway, he brushed his hand once more, though now more deliberatly along her calf, trying to focus not on his bold movement and the heart which began to beat in his throat, but on the face of the affected. The result was not disappointing.

Elizabeth jumped as far up as was allowed with a silent squeal, clapping her other hand to the one already secured over her mouth. Will cocked a brow at her as if to say "I believe that's a yes." Her eyebrows responded with a very ardent "Don't you dare."

Their silent conversation was disrupted and ignored by the now excruciatingly entertained young man who lifted his hand up and wiggled his fingers at her, as if telling her to prepare herself for the event to come. Before she could even motion to protest, his fingers began moving playfully along her legs, her arms, coaxing out the laughter that would surely give them away. Of all the times for him to set aside his normally politely reserved manner this was not one of them! She was set to burst with rolls of laughter just beneath the surface, threatening to find their way out. Quick to strike, she moved her hand to grab his in an attempt to stop his efforts. This was useless however, as he was now completely overtaken by this source of entertainment and, with all the accuracy of a mark swordsman, snatched her hand. His one held both of hers to stop any more superfluous escape attempts.

This little maneuver had pulled them just that much closer together, his deep brown eyes now boring into her own from what could hardly be called a distance. Something all at once broken and whole, thawed and frozen exuded in the air and through time. If there had been anyone else there, they would still have been the only two. There was possibility upon possibility racking through Will's brain and so, too, through Elizabeth's. He moved just that much closer, and then, with smooth dexterity... he tickled her chin.

Bucking with a giddy force, Elizabeth attempted to wriggle her way around as Will laughed at her euphorically contorted features, but to no avail. Anyhow, she would admittedly be lying to herself if she said she had no desire for him to continue. Her stomach fluttered with the notions of laughter and another sensation all together. His hands were friendly, comforting, somehow able to pull from her all the things she was ever afraid to feel in the confines of tight-backed dresses with tea-sipping biddies. Their smiles reached their eyes, their eyes reached each others. A pleasant form of torture indeed.

Before time allotted for any meaning beyond elated playfulness to be applied, the voices of men were suddenly heard coming closer and closer to the carriage until the door was opened quite suddenly by a uniformed man with such quiet precision the two young stowaways would not have known they had been coming where it not for their acutely aware senses. Elizabeth tensed as she heard the 3rd and single passanger board the ride, knowing very well just who it was.

"We'll be there in no time Govenor," she heard the uniformed man say before closing the door to leave Govenor Swann alone, though less so than he may think.

Looking across to Elizabeth, smile slightly melting to a worried expression, eyes wide with a look that implored her to tell him just why he had agreed to go along with this, Will found himself simultaneously fighting back the urge to run from and laugh at his predicament. The disease was passed to his rambunctious cohort upon seeing the look on his face, and she as well had to slap a hand over her mouth to prevent from laughing.

With a lurch, the carriage shifted forward and started on its journey. Biting her lip to keep in a ragged breath of excitement, Elizabeth sighed and leaned contentedly against the wall, hers and Will's legs resting on each others' in a comforting fashion they both tried not to think too much about. Though of course it lent another reason to their smiles, whether they said it or not.

The cobblestones, as promised, offered them quite the coverup for conversation, if voices where kept close and to a whisper. It only took a few minutes of interest in their journey and the bouncing ride before Elizabeth grew distracted and favored conversation. Her's was a mind that couldn't stay in one place for long. She was cursed with the gift of flitting curiosity. Turning to her companion, she smiled.

"We'll be here for a while. It takes a good ten or fifteen minutes to get around the island to where we need to go. At least that's what I've heard, well, _over_ heard from preparation conversations about this journey." She said, speaking low with her head bent toward him so he may hear her quite musings over the jolting, "So we've got some time to pass."

"Well," Will mused somewhat awkwardly, "What should we do?"

Elizabeth perked up. "I could read your palm!"

"Do you really know how to do that?" Will was curiouse, as it didn't seem like the kind of thing she would learn from a Governess in private lessons. Then again, it _was_ Elizabeth.

"Well, no, but let's just say I can. We won't know the difference, will we?" Realizing she had blown the cover she wanted to have for herself, she waved her hand kiddingly, "What I meant of course was that I am obviously a professional. People come from near and far to hear my famous readings. Would you like to be next?" She was so insistent she was obviously lying, but, of course, that only made it all the more entertaining. Will admired her imagination as much as he did everything else about her.

Head resting to one side, she looked at him expectantly, waving at him to hand over his palm to be examined. He rolled his eyes, and , smirking, placed his hand in hers. They both pretended not to notice the sudden tingling running through their gently touching skin, as they no longer had anything to blame it on but what they continued to nervously avoid.

Looking down at his palm, her expression turned serious. "Hmm," she muttered, "Very interesting indeed. Well if you look on this line here, you will have a long and prosperous life, with some twists and turns. Perhapes you will have a dog. You will have 5 children and own a farm and perhapes your own forgery. You will be a mark swordsman and grow very old and die in your bed. Oh, yes, and this line here shows who you will marry."

"What?" Will suddenly perked up. He hadn't been paying much attention as he found his concentration was impaired and the pleasant tingling sensation increased as she ran her finger in gentle lines across his palm. These last few words had peaked his interest. He cleared his throat,

"So," he asked with an attempt at nonchalance "Who will I be taking as my future wife then?"

"Well," Elizabeth looked closer, as if this would assist her of catching the future perpetrator. "AH. See here? Well, it appears the letters on your hand seem to make a sort of funny 'M'. So perhaps... what was that merchant girls name? Molly?"

"Midge?"

"Well, yes, either way, that's an 'M' isn't it? Perhaps it shall be her then!" She was only playing around, as she knew nothing of this sport, and so she simply could not understand the dejected look on Will's face that was trying to hide away but having a hard time of it.

"Oh."

"Well, if it doesn't come true, I'm sorry, but there are no refunds." Elizabeth joshed, trying to lighten him up a bit.

"Alright then," he chuckled slightly, but was more then prepared to climb out of this awkward little rut they had slipped in. He would change the subject. Off course, nothing Elizabeth Swann ever goes quite as planned, and so he should have expected, and so he decided to take a shot at this himself.

"Alright then, it's your turn. After all, fair is fair. And I should have you know I am somewhat of a secret expert at this."

The young man knew next to if not just plain nothing about palm reading.

"You know how to do that?" Elizabeth inquired, absolutely fascinated.

"Um, yes... Yes. Yes I do. A street merchant showed me, he's been doing it for years." He rolled on with gaining assuredness, hoping to keep her attention and, moreover, impress her.

It worked. Eagerly, she held her palm out for him to examine. Delicately, he took her deceivingly dainty hand in his as the little static current came back for a return visit. Something in him made him hope he could come up with an excuse to take just a bit longer than necessary, as he knew himself too well to think he could muster up the courage outside of a game to do as he was now.

He read on as she had, coming up with absurd possibilities for her future life, giving her a turn to feel what it was like to have _his_ finger tracing a little line of fire along her open hand. She used as much focus as she could gather to the best of her ability and listened to him ramble on about twin children in a cottage by the sea and other sorts of silly things.

"Now, as for your future spouse... But I assume you wouldn't care to know something like that, considering you're always complaining about who your father thinks could be a future match for you. You're probably bored with that kind of thing, we'll just skip that."

"NO." She insisted, "You got the full package, I believe I should too. You get what you pay for."

"You payed me nothing."  
"I saved your life."

"When are you going to stop using that as an excuse?" He sighed with feigned annoyance.

"When it stops working."

He knew it couldn't ever, and even so, if the effects of the reminder were to wear off, he was certain the effects of Elizabeth never would. Either, way he was contentedly stuck.

"Well then, in that case. It looks here like your lines form to make a 'W'." His face fell slightly, and his coloring fluctuated as he realized what he had just suggested. The lines had, in fact, very clearly made a 'W', so he had only told the truth, but he was certainly afraid of how forward she may construe the truth to be. He put down her hand clearing his throat, as he tried not to let himself imagine the impossible possibilities.

Elizabeth had not caught on so keenly as Will had feared (or secretly hoped ) she may. She sat, contemplating all of the 'W's she could. "Oh!" she finally exclaimed upon deciding she may have discerned the meaning behind the mysterious letter branded into your skin. "Wilfred! He's the son of a man my father often has lenghty meetings with. But he's only 4 years old and I just don't see that working out. Well, there's Officer Wilbur Gaits but he'll keel over before he can propose. I just can't think of any plausible... unless I haven't met them yet. Oh but of course it could … be... oh." She trailed off.

It wasn't until then had even the idea of the obvious occurred to her. Will had been nervously, deliberatly looking into her with those same brown eyes that always seemed to bore into her like they were trying to discover something. He was always interested, always ready to wait for her, and throughout her ramble, there he had been, eyes fixed on her as he waited for the realization that had made him try to scoot further away but had instead frozen him in place to hit her.

When the two of them were finally on the same page, they became desperate to turn it as fast as their cheeks were turning colors. Elizabeth looked shyly away, clearing her throat, eyes wide in embarrassment while her actions were mirrored. She looked sideways at him as he tried to look away as if he had no clue, and vice versa. Eventually, the silence became far too loud for Elizabeth's taste and she was forced to say something.

"Well then," she attempted "do you know any other games?"

Will, who was now considerably less flustered then before, looked up at her. "Well, yes, but not that can be done in quite such a space as this." He laughed quietly, "Unless you would like to try hide and seek or tag. They're already relatively childish but I'm sure here they would be _far_ more challenging than usual."

She swatted at him lightly, "Oh, sush."

There where another few minutes of silence following, but nothing so awkward as before. In fact, there was a very natural thing about it. Elizabeth looked out the tiny window above her, admiring the sky and imagining the sea. Will looked less out the window and more at his friend. Her captivation and wonderment at the things she longed to know held him, tethering him, grounding him. By the time the carriage stopped, they were both immensely caught up in the view.

Hearing the foot steps of the coachmen come around the carriage, both took the sound as a call for absolute silence. The door could be heard opening, and it seemed their caution to stay positively soundless magnified every other little creak and crack made.

"Sir," the rigid voice of the coachman wafted to their ears "We are stopping for just a moment to check the carriage for any need of maintenance, and the rest of the jaunt is downhill with some rough terrain. Just making sure it's all safe and ready for you. Would you like to step out for a moment of fresh air while you wait, Sir?"

"Yes. Yes, that would be lovely." They listened with great trepidation as Governor Swann was assisted out and sighed with relief when the door shut them in.

"Well, at least we can talk normally for a few minutes. Feels good not to have to keep so quiet." Will said, stretching his arms above his head. "I feel like I've been sitting on something this whole time"

Just as he said so, Elizabeth noticed a bit of rope hiding directly beneath him. He followed the direction of her glance, then, laughing, pulled the bit of rope from under him.

She laughed, reaching out to attempt to grab the rope from him, but his grip was strong on the other end.

"Give it here," she snickered, pulling hard to no avvail.

"It's just rope, Elizabeth."

"Then why won't you let go?"

A wry smirk grew on his lips. "Why won't you?" He yanked on his end, and she tightened her hand, pulling back with her own force.

Pulling, yanking back and forth at each other, both refusing to yield until the other let go, they continued. Will had the advantage of being stronger, having been working daily in the smithy for a good year now, resulting in more strength than most any other 14-year-old boy as well more than half of the grown men in Port Royal. However, no amount of brute strength was any match for Elizabeth's advantage. She was female.

Slacking on the rope a bit, she giggled in order to get Will's attention. As he looked up to her, she let her head fall slightly to the side and a smile crawl across her face. Will's grip slackened just a bit more as he let a little gasp of a distracted laugh out. Then, just as she had planned, she yanked as hard she she possibly could. The entire rope, as expected, flew towards her; however, not quite as planned, the boy attached to the other end came right along with it. Flying forward in a flustered frenzy, he reached his arms out so as not to slam into her full-force. The result of which was anything but unwelcome, but certainly a bit nerve-wracking.

Will's hands slammed into the carriage of either side of Elizabeth, stopping the rest of him directly before impact. Elizabeth, who's eyes had instinctively closed as he had been flung towards her, slowly opened to reveal a very rattled young blacksmith merely centimeters from her. Hearts fluttering like captured birds, they stared in wonderment.

"Hi." Elizabeth attempted, though next to no sound came out.

"Hello." Will, retorted.

Just as he was making up his mind as to whether or not he could force the bravery he would sorely need to do anything about all the suggestions his brain seemed to be offering him, the bell of reality penetrated the hold of seclusion that had encompassed them as the sound of voices and footsteps were magnified, coming closer and closer. Will scooted awkwardly away to his original position and the two of them remained noiseless.

As the Elizabeth's father was transferred back in and the driver made the promise of "just a few more minutes", the young hideaways melted into the woodwork of the walls. Elizabeth sighed as silently as possible, trying to rid herself of the nerves which had just recently taken over her and balance them out with the new ones arising at the prospect of finally seeing the impermissible pirate ship. She shuffled her limbs about, biting her lip in an act of irrepressible enthusiasm.

The carriage lurched a bit at the crack of a whip and the clopping of hooves that followed. They where headed clear to the opposite side of the island, and she knew very well it would be quite some time before they where particularly close. At the thought of the long journey, her mind shifted to dreams as her eyelids began to glide downward. Realizing it may be best to occupy herself with something quite and get a bit of rest so as to assure the most possible energy saved for her upcoming excursion and ward of the possible idea of being discovered, she began to see the merit in a short nap.

Without a second thought, she arranged her self so that she now rested against the back of the carriage rather than a side wall, her left side resting against Will. He looked up, feeling her movement and shifting fabric now against his legs. She smiled at him, patting the spot next to her delicately, alerting him of the space she had reserved for him. He, too, shifted around until his back rested as well against the back of the carriage. The now sat rather pleasantly side by side, each a pillar, strong yet soft, directly next to the other.

"Will? Would it be alright if I rested just for a bit? I want to keep by energy up once we get there." She asked of the face now no longer far enough away to worry about whispers going unheard. He nodded with slight timidity, "Of course. That's fine." He didn't quite understand why she needed his permission (Perhaps she was only alerting him she wouldn't be much for conversation the rest of the ride?) until she nodded thanks and rested her soft head of curls against his shoulder, brushing his jaw ever so slightly with her hair. She released a soporific, contented sigh as she allowed herself to drift to the world behind her sun-dappled eyelids.

Will glanced down at her with trepidation, taking care not to move any muscle but his eyes which took note of her legs against his and the head which was cradled between his own and his shoulder. One slender hand, he noticed, lay flat and open on her leg and seemed, to him, rather lonely. Letting out a slight breath which rested on his lips in the lightest lingering grin, he slowly, with great caution, let his own fingers lay atop her own, the palm she had read now protecting the future hers held just below it. He was satisfied not only with himself but with that feeling once again made more ever present, such as it always was, but all the more exemplified through the simple joy of contact. A tie was instanced between them in an intricate sailors knot he doubted he could ever sever even if the need called for it. He felt his heart beat lullingly yet with great insistence as she, unbeknownst to him, found herself realizing that, though she was as comfortable as she could have been blessed to be, sleep was becoming all at once difficult and soothingly effortless. He noticed her colored cheeks from the corner of his vision with a napped admiration. A slight palpitation led to instinct he had strength to express only through the comfort of being able to tell himself she was asleep and would overhear the wheels and hooves over anything he may say. Leaning his lips down ever so slightly, keeping them just above her ear, he whispered with a genuine insistence that ever so lightly ruffled strands of her hair. "I will love you forever, Elizabeth." He hoped his words would skip straight through her dormant state straight into her psyche. He hoped that she would somehow know. He somehow knew she did. Most of all though, he hoped she hadn't heard.

She had heard. And if the satisfied boys eyelids hadn't glided shut in his moment of comforting transport, he may just have noticed the inflated elation that played at her mouth and threatened to give her up. The two suspecting entirely different expectations of the other's knowledge and lost in a new familiarity that had floated always among them, drifted through their own versions of events that had and would transpass as they bobbed against each other along the turning streets. Each bouncing bump and curving road going entirely unnoticed save for the effect it had on their melded, lacking distance.

Sleep passed time quickly and, before they knew it, the clip-clopping noise lessened until it had come to a stand-still. The sudden silence and stillness waking Will, he blinked sleep from eyes as he gently nudged his napping friend. Without a moments hesitation, her eyes shot open. _We're here_, she though to herself with little room left for patience. She leaned away from Will, stretching her cramping back and arms as much as she could with out raising them above the back of the seat in front of them. Then, leaning towards him, she whispered with a hand cupped to his ear. "We'll wait until about a minute after my Father gets out. I've got a plan." This was not in the least bit surprising.


End file.
